AALLNET Committee 2008-2009

Members of the 2008-2009 AALLNET Committee were Victoria K. Trotta, chair; Bess Reynolds, vice chair; Shannon Silvey Burchard; Barrett D. Graham; Milagros R. Rush; Jennifer S. Stephens; and James Wirrell. Carol Bredemeyer served as AALL Executive Board liaison, and Christopher Siwa served as AALL staff liaison. John D. Edwards and Kathie J. Sullivan both served as ex-officio members.

This year, AALL planned for a new AALLNET platform and therefore some of the routine tasks of the AALLNET Committee were suspended, pending the outcome of that project. For example, the position of AALLNET coordinator remained vacant. Some consultation with AALL entity webmasters continued, but further entity web page redesign efforts were discouraged, pending the implementation of the new AALLNET platform. The primary project of the AALLNET Committee was to work with AALL committees and SISs to review the content on their websites, delete out-of-date materials, and inventory the remaining web pages by preparing spreadsheets and reporting numbers of types of files on their sites. This information will be used to plan migration priorities and identify content suitable for archiving. Bess Reynolds, AALLNET vice chair, compiled the results of this effort. Nearly 100 percent of AALL entities contributed to this project. The committee was asked to review the new Recruitment Committee website, and the chair coordinated AALLNET status announcements to the membership via the Law-Lib listserv as necessary. The chair served as ex-officio member of the AALLNET Strategic Planning Committee and the LLJ/Spectrum Advisory Committee. The committee expresses its appreciation to Georgetown Law Library, which hosted the annual Webmasters’ Workshop on Saturday, July 25, 2009. Michael Lindsay, director of library web development, UC Berkeley School of Law, conducted the workshop. AALL Web Administrator Chris Siwa supported the event in superlative fashion. Mr. Siwa held a drop-by event for Discussion Forum Owners in the AALL Member Services booth in the Exhibit Hall, in lieu of holding a formal workshop. New AALLNET is scheduled to be implemented in 2009-2010. The role of the AALLNET Committee has yet to be defined in this process, but it is certain that there will be opportunities for this standing committee to make significant contributions through drafting of policies and procedures that will ensure its success. The Webmasters’ Workshop should be planned and possibly expanded to include training on the new AALLNET platform. The committee may reassess whether the Discussion Forum Managers forum should revert to a separate workshop following the Webmasters’ Workshop, or whether it is best held as a drop-by event in the Exhibit Hall. Victoria K. Trotta, chair 2008-2009

Annual Meeting Local Arrangements Committee 2008-2009 The Washington, D.C. Local Arrangements Committee (LAC) co-chairs were appointed by Vice President/President-Elect James Duggan in May 2007. The LAC Subcommittee co-chairs were in place, and the first LAC meeting was held in February 2008. The first order of business was to prepare for the publicity booth at the 2008 Portland Meeting. The Publicity co-chairs arranged for D.C. materials to be available at the publicity booth, such as maps, brochures, hats, pencils, and other handouts. Additionally during that Meeting, we handed out capitol dome stickers for everyone’s nametags and raffled two gift baskets. At the Portland closing banquet, Judy Gaskell spoke briefly about D.C., and a promotional video was shown. The Publicity Subcommittee co-chairs continued their LAC work by submitting several articles to Spectrum between the 2008 and 2009 Annual Meetings. During fall 2008, the Newspaper Subcommittee ran a contest to select a name for the daily paper – The Capital Crier was the winner. By November 2008 library tours and excursions were set. In December the committee chairs provided information for the preliminary program. Early in 2009 the Restaurant Guide was completed and by February the LAC website and blog were up and running. By May 2009 the planning for the Family Social Hour and the Closing Banquet was completed. The committee’s last planning meeting was held at the Renaissance Hotel on June 19, 2009. In addition the LAC solicited and coordinated volunteers, organized Dine-Arounds, invited local VIPS to the meeting, prepared materials for monthly Annual Meeting update e-mails, stuffed registration bags, and provided local information to Annual Meeting attendees via the Hospitality Booth. Members of the committee were: Leslie Campbell, Karen Silber, Susan Lewis-Somers, Herb Somers, Jill Duffy, Steve Young, Sara Sampson, Stephanie Paup, Sara Kelley Burriesci, Todd Venie, Amy Taylor, Elizabeth LeDoux, Lesliediana Jones, Jeff Berns, Kelly Vinopal, Abigail Ross, Sara Sonet, Jennifer Eckel, Laurie Green, Lisa Harrington, Susan Panasik, Charlie Knuth, Tricia Peavler, and Shannon O’Connell. We would like to thank all the committee members and volunteers for helping to make the 2009 Annual Meeting a success. Carla Evans and Judy Gaskell, co-chairs

Annual Meeting Program Committee 2008-2009 The 2009 Annual Program Planning Committee held its first meeting in March 2008 in Chicago in order to start planning for the 2009 Annual Meeting. At this meeting, the committee reviewed the program planning process and assigned the tasks of updating key informational materials including the Speakers Handbook, the Coordinators Handbook, and the Program Planners Handbook. Working with then Vice President James Duggan, we selected the topic “Innovate” for the 2009 Annual Meeting. As part of AMPC’s own innovative efforts, the committee held the first AMPC webinar in June 2008, prior to the 2008 Annual Meeting. The topic of the webinar was “Perfect Program Proposals,” and speakers included past AMPC Chairs Donna Bausch and Diana Jaque. Paul George led the session, which explained how to make a strong program proposal with suggestions and tips as well as advice on how to avoid weaknesses. At the 2008 Annual Meeting, the committee members held an open forum for AALL members planning to submit program proposals. Each AMPC member was also assigned to act as liaison to two or more of the various SIS’s and met with the members or education committees. The committee received over 180 proposals for programs and workshops from members, chapters, SIS’s, AALL committees, and others. We met in September 2008 to select the programs for the 2009 Meeting. We had 66 available program slots. Three of these are dedicated: the legislative update, the LexisNexis Call for Papers, and the Hot Topic. The current practice is to provide each of the 13 SIS’s with their top choice of sponsored programs. This left the committee members with the task of selecting the remaining 50 programs, which was a difficult task given the strength of so many proposals, but we selected those that best represented a variety of topics and audiences. We also selected four strong workshops. As of July 15, all workshops have substantial enrollments. After the fall meeting, the committee’s two remaining tasks for the year were to identify the plenary speaker and to select the hot topic program. Plenary speakers are increasingly difficult to obtain because many of them have fees that far exceed AALL’s budget. Fortunately, the committee was able to receive a commitment from Prof, Jonathan Zittrain of Harvard Law School. Prof. Zittrain is an expert on the future of the Internet and its role in society, and he will be an exciting and provocative speaker. The AMPC’s final official act prior to the 2009 Annual Meeting was selecting this year’s hot topic program, which will be “The New Economic Reality: Opportunity or Catastrophe?” The 2009 AMPC members were Jeff Berns, Barbara Fritschel, Mary Lu Linnane, Judy Meadows, Holly Riccio, and Ron Wheeler. Respectfully submitted, Paul George AMPC chair

July 15, 2009

Awards Committee 2008-2009

Committee Activities: The AALL Awards Committee reviewed nominations and selected recipients for the Marian Gould Gallaher Distinguished Service Award, the Joseph L. Andrews Bibliographical Award, the Chapter Professional Development Award, and the Law Library Publications Award. A display at the CONELL Marketplace represented the committee’s work. Award recipients were notified of the opportunity to be photographed with AALL President James Duggan on Sunday, July 26. Structuring the Transition to New Awards Procedures:

This year saw the ongoing evolution of the awards process, wherein recipients of specified awards are no longer selected by the AALL Awards Committee. This involved the following awards/committees: Excellence in Marketing (now selected by the Public Relations Committee); the LLJ/Spectrum Articles of the Year awards (now selected by the LLJ/Spectrum Committee); the New Product Award (CRIV); and Public Access to Government Information/PAGI (Government Relations Committee). Based upon some questions addressed to the Awards Committee chair by chairs of the committees, there appeared to be uncertainty as to procedures and deadlines in the awards process. In order to standardize the process, guidelines were created by the Awards Committee chair, vice-chair, and Executive Board liaison, and were distributed to the other committees.

The work of gathering the large and growing number of recipient names for the “Awards and Acknowledgments” brochure by the Awards Committee chair and Kim Rundle led the chair, vice-chair, board liaison, and Kim Rundle to meet in D.C. to consider an electronic reporting form for all AALL entities that make awards and grants. Also discussed was advertising to the other awarding entities the deadlines and guidelines for reporting recipient information to Headquarters. The committee vice-chair met with SIS Council members to advise them of the award reporting procedures and deadlines for the respective SIS awards and grants.

Member Recognition Special Committee: Awards Committee chair and vice-chair held a conference call on 9/24/2008 with Gail Warren, chair of the Special Committee, appointed by James Duggan, AALL president. The committee’s mission was to look into ways to recognize members for their contributions and activities in AALL, whose accomplishments do not meet the criteria for the Marian Gould Gallagher Award for Distinguished Service. The purpose of the conference call was to identify possible interaction between the Awards Committee and the Special Committee. The Executive Board will review the recommendations in the committee’s final report, dated June 5, 2009, at its meeting in D.C. 2009 Award Recipients: The Awards Committee chair notified all award recipients by e-mail, with an attached letter on official AALL letterhead. Headquarters sent print copies of the letters to each recipient as well. Headquarters generated award plaques to be handed out at the Annual Meeting and took care of delivering any monetary awards. The following awards were made:

Marian Gould Gallagher Distinguished Service Award: Patrick E. Kehoe, American University Law Library (Retired), and Elizabeth Ann Puckett, University of Georgia School of Law Library.

Joseph L. Andrews Bibliographical Award: William H. Manz. Rittenburg Law Library, St. John’s University School of Law, Guide to State Legislation, Legislative History, and Administrative Materials (Hein, 2008).

AALL Spectrum Article of the Year Award: Carl A Yirka, Julien and Virginia Cornell Library, Vermont Law School, “The Yirka Question and Yirka’s Answer: What Should Law Libraries Stop Doing in Order to Address Higher Priority Initiatives?” (July 2008).

Best New Product Award: William S. Hein & Co., Inc., Subject Compilation of State Laws (HeinOnline).

Chapter Professional Development Award-Full-Day Workshop: Law Librarians of Puget Sound Chapter, “Librarians Mean Business: Lessons from the Boardroom.”

Excellence in Marketing Awards: --Best Brochure: University of Minnesota Law Library, University of Minnesota Law Library: Commitment to Excellence. --Best Campaign: Law Library Association of Wisconsin, 2009 LLAW Marketing Calendar. --Best Use of Technology: Ross-Blakley Law Library, Arizona State University,

The Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law Faculty Scholarship Repository. --Best PR Toolkit: Sacramento County Public Law Library, Public Relations Kit.

Law Library Journal Article of the Year Award: Sarah Hooke Lee, Northeastern University School of Law Library, “Preserving Our Heritage: Protecting Law Library Core Missions through Updated Library Quality Assessment Standards” (July 2008).

Law Library Publications Award—Print Division: Tarlton Law Library, University of Texas as Austin (Print Division), Roy M. Mersky: An Oral History Interview. Non-Print Division: Law Library of Congress, Global Legal Monitor (GLM).

Public Access to Government Information (PAGI): Sunlight Foundation, Washington, D.C. Robert L. Oakley Member Advocacy Award: Rick McKinney, Federal Reserve Board Law Library.

2008/2009 Committee Members: Michele Finerty, chair; Camille Broussard, vice-chair, Philip C. Berwick; Carmen Brigandi; Richard A. Leiter; Mary D. Mahoney; Carol N. Rogers; Susan P. Siebers; Dee Wood; and Carol Bredemeyer, Executive Board liaison. The 2008/2009 Awards Committee completed its work at the joint meeting with the 2009/2010 at the Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. on July 28. Camille Broussard will serve as chair of the 2009/2010 Committee and Mary Lu Linnane will serve as vice-chair. Respectfully submitted by Michele Finerty, 2008/2009 chair

Bylaws and Resolutions Committee 2008-09 The Bylaws Committee got a new name and an additional charge in 2008-09. Now known as the Bylaws and Resolutions Committee, it has the added responsibility of reviewing resolutions submitted by AALL members or entities and forwarding those resolutions to the AALL executive director and secretary for consideration at the AALL Business Meeting. At the request of Ann Fessenden, chair of the Executive Board Administration Committee, the committee provided a review and commented on proposed resolutions procedures. A final version of the committee review process for resolutions was passed at the April AALL Executive Board meeting. The continuing charge of the committee includes reviewing all chapter and special interest section bylaws documents when adopted or amended to avoid conflict or inconsistency with AALL bylaws. The committee also serves as a resource for the Association, special interest sections, and chapters on questions relating to bylaws and parliamentary procedure. During the 2008-09 term the committee reviewed proposed changes to the bylaws of the following chapters: Arizona Association of Law Libraries, Colorado Association of Law Libraries, Law Library Association of Maryland, New Jersey Law Librarians Association, Northern California Association of Law Libraries, South Florida Association of Law Libraries, Southern New England Law Librarians Association, and Western Pacific Association of Law Libraries. Special interest sections requesting bylaws amendment reviews were Academic Law libraries, Legal History and Rare Books, and Technical Services. The average time for a committee review was less than a week. Webmaster Matthew Steinke completed an extensive update of the committee website. The redesigned site provides links to bylaws of the Association, all chapters and special interest sections, and some caucus and consortia bylaws. Committee members in 2008-09 were Melissa Serfass, chair; Marie Summerlin Hamm, vice chair; A. Hays Butler; D.R. Jones; Matthew Steinke; Caroline Osborn; and Frosty Owen. Executive Board liaison was Ruth Hill. Submitted by Melissa Serfass Chair, 2008-09

AALL/LexisNexis Call for Papers Committee 2008-2009

Committee Members: James Heller (chair) James Donovan David Hollander Board Liaison: Catherine Lemann Staff Liaison: Hannah Phelps

Submitted on May 19, 2009 by James Heller

A. The committee made awards in the three categories as follows:

Open Division: co-winners Joseph A. Custer and Laura N. Gasaway "The Truthiness of Thinkable Thoughts versus the Facts of Empirical Research" Joseph A. Custer Associate Director and Head of Technical Services University of Kansas School of Law Wheat Law Library Lawrence, Kansas "A Defense of the Public Domain: A Scholarly Essay" Laura N. Gasaway Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Law University of North Carolina School of Law Chapel Hill, North Carolina New Member Division: winner Mikhail Koulikov "Indexing and Full-Text Coverage of Law Review Articles in Non-Legal Databases: An Initial Study" Mikhail Koulikov Reference Librarian New York Law Institute New York, New York

Student Division: co- winners Theodora Belniak and Jason Tubinis

"The Law Librarian of the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries: A Figuration in Flux" Theodora Belniak Joint JD/MLS Program University of Buffalo The State University of New York "A Law Librarian's Guide to the Economic Crisis"

Jason Tubinis Joint JD/MLS Program University of Buffalo The State University of New York

B. The committee is sponsoring and holding a Writer’s Workshop at the AALL Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.

After introductory comments we will break into roundtable discussion groups with editors and experienced authors facilitating the conversation at each table. I anticipate 30-40 attendees.

Table Topics: - selecting topics for articles - making time to write - collaboration: working with co-authors - getting published - where to publish: a library journal or elsewhere - researching and citation, including copyright and plagiarism - working with your editor Table Moderators: - Carol Billings, author and past AALL President - Barbara Bintliff, Associate Editor of LRSQ and past AALL President - Mike Chiorazzi, Editor of LRSQ - Dick Danner, former Editor of LLJ and past AALL President - Mark Estes, Editor of Spectrum and past AALL President - Jim Heller, author and past AALL President - Frank Houdek, former Editor of LLJ and past AALL President - Janet Sinder - Editor of LLJ

Conference of Newer Law Librarians Committee 2008-09 The Conell Committee is responsible for the planning and promotion of the Conference of Newer Law Librarians, which is held annually on the Saturday before the Annual Meeting begins. The 2008/09 year marked the inaugural year of the Conell Committee. In previous years, Conell used to be run by the Mentoring Committee. The members of the Conell Committee during 2008/09 are Beth Adelman, chair; Donna Williams, vice chair; Beth DiFelice; Margaret Hall; Julia Hughes; Jocelyn Kennedy; Pedro Padilla-Rosa; Mary Wells; and Laura Whitbeck. The committee met at the Annual Meeting in Portland. Committee members signed up for one or more of the following subcommittees: Dutch Treat Dinner, Marketplace, Publicity, Speaker Recruitment, Speed Networking, Tour Planning, and Website. Committee members met via phone conference monthly throughout the year. During the past year many new initiatives were implemented. The committee created a social networking site through AirSet.com, which allows committee members to share documentation and preserve information. Over the next few years this documentation will naturally blossom into a committee handbook. Another initiative is the Conell website. It went live on April 1, 2009. It serves as an introduction to Conell including testimonials, photos, and general information about the Conell experience. The committee also implemented a “green” initiative. Most notably, the committee cut down the number of pages included in the Conell handout. Instead, attendees were directed to the Conell website for information. In addition, the committee decided to forgo purchasing prizes. Instead, unused Conell t-shirts from previous years will be given away as prizes. The officers for 2009/10 are Donna Williams, chair; and Julia Hughes, vice chair. Beth Adelman Chair, 2008/09

Copyright Committee 2008-2009

The Copyright Committee is charged with representing the Association’s interests regarding copyright and other intellectual property issues in legislative, regulatory, and judicial affairs. The committee informs and advises the Board and the Government Relations Office (GRO) and coordinates with GRO to communicate the Association’s views on intellectual property matters. The committee submitted a number of program proposals for the 2009 Annual Meeting, but only one was accepted. Steven Melamut wrote the successful proposal, which concerned fair use in the digital world. During the past year, the Copyright Committee continued to track copyright developments of interest to the Association’s membership. A few highlights are below: We continue to hope for a solution to the problem of orphan works, which are works that may or may not be protected by copyright, but the copyright status cannot be determined because the copyright owner cannot be found. Legislative proposals have not borne fruit due to disagreements about best practices for what constitutes a diligent search for the copyright owner. Now it appears that the solution for orphan works has been subsumed by the Google Book Settlement (GBS) proposal, at least for books. The Department of Justice is looking at GBS due to the antitrust implications of the agreement, so the problem of orphan works is far from a solved. The Copyright Office held a hearing on May 6, 2009, regarding the anti-circumvention provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Roger Skalbeck, the incoming vice-chair of the Copyright Committee, testified on behalf of AALL and the Medical and Special Libraries Associations, who asked that law and health sciences faculty be permitted to overcome access controls in DVDs to create film clips for use in the classroom. An exception for classroom use of film clips has already been given to film and media studies faculty. Georgia State University (GSU) was sued for copyright infringement by three publishers after it was alleged that hundreds of copyrighted works were being made available through GSU e-reserves without permission. As a state entity, GSU has sovereign immunity and cannot be forced to pay damages. Coupled with the fact that the district court judge in Atlanta limited the plaintiffs’ discovery to GSU’s conduct after February 2009, when new GSU copyright policies went into effect, it appears that a settlement of the suit is near. We have continued to voice our objections to the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) because it is being negotiated in secret, despite the new administration’s promise of transparency and open government. The Copyright Committee is in the process of revising its website and updating various issue briefs and other information. Thanks to the Association’s Board and members for their interest in the committee’s work and for their support throughout the year. Keith Ann Stiverson

2008-2009 chair

Continuing Professional Education Committee 2008-2009 The Continuing Professional Education Committee (CPE) followed its charge in order to support the career development and continuing professional education needs of AALL members in accordance with the AALL Professional Education Policy and the Competencies of Law Librarianship. CPE completed all of its goals that were set back in July 2008. One of CPE’s main goals was to increase awareness on what CPE has to offer including the AALL/BNA Continuing Education Grants Program, monthly AALL webinars, Calendar of Events, Speaker Directory, and recorded programs in the Members Only section on AALLNET. The committee reached out to AALL members via e-mail and utilized resources like Law-Lib and AALLNET as a way to promote CPE’s offerings. CPE continued to oversee the AALL/BNA Continuing Education Grants Program. The FAQ document was updated to provide answers about the grant process. CPE also improved the grant application, which now allows applicants to edit and save their application until it is ready for submission. This committee awarded $13,235 in grant money to support continuing education programs. These programs were recorded and will be available on AALL2GO. CPE created a website where members can access information about the grants program, upcoming webinars, and other CPE news. The committee also developed a Program Development Checklist to assist members putting together a continuing education program. It covers the necessary steps to put on a program, from selecting a topic and venue to collecting feedback from the audience. This checklist can be found on the CPE website. The committee is evaluating the Competencies of Law Librarianship to determine if they are still relevant today and to make any necessary updates. CPE invited members to a moderated listserv discussion on the Competencies and collected comments from them. An article about the listserv discussion was posted on the Law Librarian Blog on May 27, 2009. CPE is utilizing the Tools for Success in Today’s Economy wiki to collect more feedback. Under April Schwartz’s leadership, the committee will continue and complete this review process. For the first time, CPE had a program accepted to the 2009 AALL Annual Meeting. The 30-minute program featured a past grant recipient, Cheryl Nyberg, and her program entitled “State by State Compilation of Laws.” The program also highlighted the AALL/BNA Continuing Education Grants Program. CPE also collaborated with Celeste Smith, AALL education director, on identifying topics and speakers for webinars. The recorded webinars on various topics will be available on AALL2GO. CPE also participated in the selection of the 2009 AALL Management Institute attendees. The 2008-09 committee included Julie Pabarja, chair; April Schwartz, vice chair; Ann Fessenden, Board liaison; Celeste Smith, staff liaison; and members Kevin Butterfield, Scott Childs, Andrew Pulau Evans, Marcus L. Hochstetler, Claudia Jalowka, Kathleen S. Martin, and Anne K. Myers. I would like to thank the Committee members for their dedication and hard

work this year. I would also like to thank Ann Fessenden and Celeste Smith for their guidance and support. Julie Pabarja, chair 2008-09

Developing Law Librarians for the Future Special Committee 2008-2009 The Developing Law Librarians for the Future (DLLF) Special Committee was charged with (1) developing a coherent long-range plan to recruit new members to the profession of law librarianship and to AALL and (2) developing strategies to retain younger members within the profession and in AALL. The committee proposed a national Recruitment Ambassadors Program, composed of member volunteers to represent 10 U.S. regions. The ambassadors will work to attract potential recruits by establishing active relationships and programs with area library schools, law schools, and other institutions. They will be selected as part of the annual committee selection process and managed by AALL HQ staff, with advice and support from the Recruitment Committee. They will receive training at the Annual Meeting, developed by the Recruitment Committee and HQ staff. In addition, each ambassador will coordinate with local chapters. The Executive Board approved a trial version of the Recruitment Ambassadors Program at its spring 2009 meeting, which will initially consist of one or two regional ambassadors. The DLLF Special Committee’s Recruitment Subcommittee was chaired by Lauren M. Collins. Another committee accomplishment was the development of an AALL recruitment website, lawlibrarycareers.org. This new site aims to recruit new members to the profession and to AALL with an attractive appeal to visitors that will “sell” law librarianship as a career. It consolidates information about the profession of law librarianship, law libraries and librarians, graduate library education, and scholarships and grants in an easy-to-digest design. The new lawlibrarycareers.org has its own domain address, to attract hits from search engines, but will also live on the redesigned AALLNET. The Executive Board decided at its spring 2009 meeting that the site will be overseen by the Recruitment Committee and HQ staff. The DLLF Special Committee’s AALLNET Subcommittee was chaired by Gregory L. Ivy. Finally, the DLLF Special Committee recommended that AALL consider lowering dues for newer members, to retain these mostly younger members within AALL and in the profession. It presented comparative research on the dues structures of other library associations in making its recommendation. At its spring 2009 meeting, the Executive Board appointed a special committee, composed of Past President Ann Fessenden and Board Member Cornell H. Winston, to explore this issue further and report to the Board at its July 2009 meeting. The DLLF Special Committee was composed of Donna K. Bausch, Kim Clarke, Lauren M. Collins, Amy J. Eaton, Liz Glanker, Gregory L. Ivy, Terry Long, and Susan Lewis-Somers, Chair. It received especially active assistance and advice from its 2007-2008 ex officio members, Michael J. Bushbaum, Barbara G. Traub, and Roberta (Bobbie) Studwell. In addition, 2008-2009 ex officio members Ellen J. Platt and Sarah Mauldin provided very helpful comments and advice. The committee is also grateful for the helpful counsel and support it has received from its Executive Board liaison, Cornell H. Winston, and from Past President Ann Fessenden and Executive Director Kate Hagan.

Susan Lewis-Somers

Diversity Committee 2008-2009

At the 2008 Business Meeting, and in light of the charge given the committee by the Executive Board, it was determined that the committee should explore several new initiatives intended to clarify its priorities and determine the scope of future endeavors. After discussion, it was decided that the committee would explore and investigate the possibility of implementing the following initiatives, with the understanding that doing so would be an ambitious project and might take several years. Initiatives and Status 1) Explore the various meanings of “diversity” within AALL and how the different obstacles and opportunities for the various types of diversity affect our members and our profession. Create frameworks through which the Diversity Committee can work towards building communication and opportunities for cooperation between interested groups within AALL concerned with diversity. This year the committee has focused on the preliminary steps of determining the current definition of “diversity” and has tied such concerns directly to the topic of the 2009 Diversity Symposium. The theme and structure of this year’s Symposium, “Rethinking Diversity: Defining Ourselves for the 21st Century,” is designed to bring together distinct groups within AALL that have, by their formation, identified themselves as being concerned with the issue of diversity. It is anticipated that a conversation among the groups will give the committee a stronger idea of the current concerns regarding diversity and offer insight into how diversity should be defined within the profession in light of those concerns. 2) Update and revise the Diversity Committee web page to more accurately reflect the goals and ideas of the committee as well as providing more resources to members interested in all types of diversity. Determine what sorts of resources would be most useful to members regarding diversity and make those sources available to AALL membership.

The committee has discussed possible revisions to the design and substance of the Committee’s web page to increase the amount of information and communication between groups for possible future collaboration. Such plans include updating the Diversity Bibliography as well as determining what additional material would be helpful to AALL members and groups that are interested in such issues. Working towards these initiatives for 2008 – 2009 were committee members Michael G. Bernier, Yousuf Jaleel, Lori Hansen Lantos, Nichelle Perry, and Anne Robbins; Board Liaison Janice Henderson; and Chair Raquel Gabriel. For 2009 – 2010 committee members Yousuf Jaleel, Julie Graves Krishnaswami, Michele Lucero, and Nichelle Perry will be led Chair Anne Robbins, Vice Chair Dennis C. Kim-Prieto, and Board Liaison Ruth J. Hill.

Economic Status of Law Librarians Committee 2008-2009 The Economic Status of Law Librarians Committee kicked off the year by brainstorming on a possible program for the 2009 Annual Meeting. Based on feedback from participants at the 2008 CONELL marketplace, we decided on a program focusing on developing negotiation techniques for better salaries and compensation in the workplace, “Getting to Yes: Developing Effective Salary and Compensation Negotiation Skills.” We were all delighted that the program was accepted, continuing the tradition of the committee sponsoring programs at the Annual Meeting. This was just the beginning of a very busy and productive year due to the fact that revisions and enhancements were being sought for the upcoming biennial salary survey. One of the first points of business carried over from the previous year was the feasibility of developing a comparative worth study. The committee consulted with Pete Ronza, an HR specialist in Minnesota who has worked with the committee and presented programs at the last two Annual Meetings. At the end of the day, the committee decided to revisit this project due to dissatisfaction with the groups identified by the consultant and lingering questions as to the methodology to be employed. The committee initiated a discussion forum in September 2008 seeking input from membership for suggestions and ideas to improve the Biennial Salary Survey. The following open-ended questions about the AALL salary survey were initially posted to the forum:

1. How are library directors/managers able to use the current salary survey to most effectively help in their efforts to get fair salaries for library staff, retain their library staff, and plan for future library positions?

2. Has anyone found that their HR departments, or management, would not accept the AALL Biennial Survey as a basis for salary comparisons, and if so, what were the reasons given?

3. What improvements and supplementation of data would be helpful?

The Economic Status of Law Librarian's Committee is reviewing the need for a comparable jobs/worth report.

1. How useful would this be to you in negotiating better compensation?

2. Also which jobs or job groups would you consider comparable to that of a law librarian?

By the close of the discussion forum on October 31, 2008, 195 AALL members had signed up, and approximately 21 AALL members provided responses. Several participants stated that benefits information should be included in the AALL survey as comparable data.

The credibility issue was also raised by a number of participants who stated that their HR departments or administrators did not find the AALL salary survey credible, or that preference had been given to other surveys as a basis for salary comparisons (e.g., Altman-Weil, Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Citibank salary surveys). A couple of participants raised concerns with the biennial nature of the survey and the lack of currency of the data by the time the report is released. Earlier release date of the report was recommended, e.g., early spring while law schools are finalizing their budgets for the upcoming fiscal year. In late 2008, the Board in response to a request from private law libraries to contract out the publication of the survey to a private entity like Pricewaterhouse Coopers, commissioned the committee to investigate this possibility. The committee examined select salary surveys namely: Association of Legal Administrators Compensation and benefits Survey, Altman Weil Survey of Law Firm Economics and the SLA Salary Survey and Workplace Study. In conclusion the committee found the AALL Survey to be more particularly suited and relevant to law librarians. The committee also found that the survey would definitely benefit from a couple of enhancements and it needed more aggressive promotion to overcome the obstacles of lack of credibility and name recognition among private law library administrators. A final report detailing the findings of the committee was submitted to the Board in March 2009. Lastly in June 2009 the committee reviewed the current job descriptions in the Biennial Survey to check for obsolescence, outdated references etc. The task of reviewing academic law library job descriptions was completed by the academic librarians on the committee as the academic SIS declined to do this for a variety of reasons. The state, county and court librarians reviewed but had no changes. The PLL SIS worked with private law librarians on the committee to come up with their revisions. This has been a very fruitful and productive year, thanks to the hard work and efforts of members of the committee Chad Brown (who also served as our webmaster), Denise Gibson, Loretta Orndoff, Debby Norwood, Linda-Jean Schneider, our AALL staff liaisons Julia O’Donnell, Hillary Baker and board liaison Janice Henderson. Femi Cadmus Committee Chair, 2008-2009

Electronic Legal Information Access and Citation Committee 2008-2009 Linda Defendeifer, chair; Emily Janoski-Haehlen,vice chair; Matt Braun and Tina Ching, recording secretaries ELIACC’s major challenge for 2008-09 was integrating the missions of two previous committees, Access to Electronic Legal Information Committee (AELIC) and Citation Formats. Website and TWEN pages. Emily Janoski-Haehlen designed a new website for the new Committee. Core documents from both prior committees were moved to the new site, and new content was added. The sites of both prior committees remain accessible as archived sites. Tina Ching maintained a TWEN (The West Education Network) site for communication among committee members. Authentication. The committee updated research for the State-by-State Report on Authentication of Online Legal Resources. Matt Braun and Mary Alice Baish polled contacts as to the current status of authentication in all reporting jurisdictions, with an additional query regarding citation reform efforts. Mary Alice and Tina Ching are reviewing responses and will post them as they are ready for publication, as updates to the original survey.

In November 2008, David Badertscher and Mary Alice Baish presented at the “Joint LLAGNY-ELIACC Authentication Program,” a collaboration between the Law Library Association of Greater New York (LLAGNY) and ELIACC at the New York County Lawyers Association in New York City, regarding how findings of the 2007 authentication survey may be adopted in the state of New York.

The committee reached out to other authentication stakeholders, and its program at the 2009 Annual Meeting reflects those efforts. Panelists for “Advocating for Authentication of and Permanent Public Access to Electronic Government Legal Information” include Kathy Carlson of ELIACC, Lisa Russell of the U.S. Government Printing Office, and Catherine Sanders Reach of the American Bar Association. The committee also has adopted the pamphlet Principles and Core Values Concerning Public Information on Government Web Sites and has made it available in both PDF and HTML on its website. Citation Formats. The committee determined that general interest in citation reform had lagged in recent years. To return the attention of courts to the issue, the committee prepared a white paper detailing successful reform efforts. Written by Carol Billings and Kathy Carlson, the paper features a foreword by Chief Justice Yvonne Kauger of the Oklahoma Supreme Court, an early adopter of uniform citation. Tina Ching’s article, “The Next Generation of Legal Citations: A Survey of Internet Citations in the Opinions of the Washington Supreme Court and Washington Appellate Courts, 1999-2005,” was published in the Journal of Appellate Practice and Process (9 J. App. Prac. & Process 387).

Anticipated Challenges; Work in Progress The committee believes that citation reform will require more attention in years to come, because citation reform lacks the major stakeholder support that authentication enjoys following the appointment of an authentication study committee by the National Conference of Commissioners of Uniform State Laws.

Matt Novak is preparing an article on authentication issues for submission to a state bar journal. John Cannan is designing a Web 2.0 compendium of legal definitions using public domain citation sources.

Government Relations Committee 2008-2009 With the exciting transition in the White House, the Government Relations Office and GRC sent a “Statement to the Obama-Biden Transition Team” outlining AALL’s public policy positions. The statement outlined (1) AALL’s commitment to the public’s right to access permanent, authentic government information; (2) balancing the rights of users of information and the rights of copyright owners and licensors in the digital age; and (3) preserving the privacy rights and civil liberties of library users. In addition to reaching out to the executive branch, GRC monitored many important legislative developments. Most recently, GRC members tracked legislation protecting “Whistleblowers” – those who take personal and professional risks to protect the public against government waste, fraud, and abuse. GRC also monitored issues surrounding network neutrality, the PACER pilot program, and the value of Federal Depository Library Program to selective law libraries. AALL members and chapters continue to play an invaluable role in GRC’s advocacy efforts; they made the calls, sent the letters, and remembered to thank the government officials who responded well to AALL priorities. To aid in AALL member efforts, GRC also worked with the Government Relations Office to create an “Advocacy Toolkit.” The AALL Advocacy Toolkit is designed to help AALL members and chapters become effective advocates for law libraries. Divided into sections for individuals and chapters, the Toolkit familiarizes members with AALL's information policy priorities and teaches users the skills needed to make a difference for law libraries on the federal and state levels. Each GRC member served as liaison to several chapters and special interest sections and was responsible for keeping those members informed and active in advocacy efforts. To facilitate in those efforts, GRC developed a new bill-tracking page on the GRC website, available at: http://www.aallnet.org/committee/govr/billtrack.htm. This new proactive site cultivates lasting ties with every chapter through its liaison assignments, connecting interested parties to important issues as they unfold, rather than after the fact. The committee reviewed nominations for the 2009 Public Access to Government Information (PAGI) Award and recommended that Rick McKinney receive the award. The committee also reviewed nominations for the 2009 Robert L. Oakley Member Advocacy Award and recommended that the Sunlight Foundation receive the award. After receiving many strong nominations, the committee proposed modification of the Robert L. Oakley Member Advocacy Award criteria to allow for the nomination of groups, in addition to individuals, to receive the award for outstanding advocacy work in support of AALL’s goals. The current language only allows for an individual AALL member to receive this Award. The GRC submitted this as an agenda item for the Executive Board’s July meeting. The committee worked with the Government Relations Office staff to present the Advocacy Workshop held at the 2008 Annual Meeting: 35 AALL members attended the Workshop. The Government Relations Office is developing a “Day on the Hill” for the 2009 Annual Meeting, which will connect librarians to legislators and legislative advocates.

GRC program proposals that were accepted are: 1) “Legislative Advocacy Leadership Training 2009: AALL Day on the Hill”; 2) “E6: Discovering Advocacy Web Tools: Your Key to Influencing Congress”; 3) “H5: Annual Legislative and Regulatory Update”; and 4) “J3: Public Access to the Law in the YaOogle Age.” Other policy committees and SISs have sponsored several policy programs as well, upholding the tradition of a strong track of policy programs at the Washington, D.C. Meeting.

GRC Members for 2008-2009: Stephen Mirsky, Camilla Tubbs, Angela T. Baldree, Jennifer Behrens, Barbara H. Brandon, Marjorie Crawford, Marlene C. Gebauer, Stephanie Peace Hess, Madeline Kriescher, Ryan Saltz (webmaster), and Elizabeth Sutera. AALL President James E. Duggan served as GRC Board liaison and Mary Alice Baish, director of the Government Relations Office, was the staff liaison. Emily Feldman, who continues to serve as a great addition to the Government Relations Office, ably assisted Mary Alice in various projects.

Camilla Tubbs, 2008-2009 vice-chair

Grants Committee 2008-2009 Pauline Afuso; Whitney Alexander; Cathy Chick; Mary Dryden; James Durham; Julie Kimbrough; Anne Mc Donald, chair; Laura Suttell; and Patricia Wellinger, vice chair,A served on the 2008-2009 Grants Committee. Janice Henderson was our Executive Board liaison. Whitney Alexander was appointed in January to fill the vacancy created by James Durham’s resignation. The committee’s primary responsibility is to administer AALL’s Annual Meeting/Workshop grants program, which covers registration fees to the annual meeting or a workshop associated with the Annual Meeting. The committee implemented a proposal approved by the Executive Board in 2008 to create a new granting category so it could award grants to longtime members. Two new application forms were created and the committee developed new scoring criteria. The 2008-2009 committee had $5,300.00 to fund Annual Meeting workshop grants. The committee received 47 applications and awarded grants to 12 regular AALL members and five student members for a total of 17. There were no workshop grants this year. We have submitted a proposal to the Executive Board to amend our committee charge so that we can award grant funds beyond just registration costs. We also did extensive publicity and outreach efforts in conjunction with Julia O’Donnell, AALL’s headquarters staff. Grant announcements were incorporated into the president’s monthly message as well as forwarded to chapters and SISs. The chair recommends that next year’s committee implement any approved changes to our granting structure, review the current application forms and score sheets to ensure that applications in both categories are given equal weight, and continue publicity efforts. Patricia Wellinger will chair the Grants Committee in 2009-2010. Pauline Afuso will serve as vice chair. Anne McDonald, chair 2008-2009

Indexing of Periodical Literature Committee 2008-09 The members of this year’s committee were: Barbara H. Garavaglia; Blair Kauffman; Michelle Pearse; Nathan Aaron Rosen; Gordon Russell; Mary D. Hood, vice chair; and Lucinda Harrison-Cox, chair. This year the committee has been working on a lengthy list of titles submitted for consideration by Gale for inclusion in the Index. Decisions were made relating to a significant number of the titles. Many of the remaining titles will be considered by the committee at the Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. At the Annual Meeting, the committee further plans to begin addressing the issue of remaining titles that do not currently seem to fall within the selection guidelines. The large number of titles under consideration also brought to light the need for improvement in the methods used by the committee between Annual Meetings to process titles under consideration. Efforts are underway to improve the process. Work on the new content for the committee’s new web pages progressed nicely, however final design elements were delayed pending completion of the AALL website redesign project. Upon completion of the AALL web redesign, the work can be fully integrated and launched. It is expected that this will take place during 2009-10. Next year’s chair will be Mary D. Hood, and Barbara H. Garavaglia will serve in the position of vice chair. Lucinda Harrison-Cox, chair 2008-09

Law Library Journal and AALL Spectrum Committee 2008-09

During 2008-09 several enhancements occurred, and the committee actively discussed issues that were presented. The committee began its year at the AALL Annual Meeting in Portland in July 2008. That meeting included a lengthy discussion on use of the AALL Universal Citation Guide (UCG) by the Law Library Journal, which likely will be an issue for the committee in 2009-10 as well since consensus was not reached. Some members thought that it would be more appropriate for LLJ to follow recognized citation formats, such as the Bluebook, so that AALL publication format would be similar to what the legal community is accustomed to seeing. That aspect was considered especially important for librarians whose tenure files are reviewed by law faculty. Others, especially those familiar with the long struggle to develop vendor neutral citations, thought AALL should retain UCG even if no other group embraced it.

A newly designed and updated web page was posted thanks largely to the work of member Jason Sowards. During the course of the year the committee discussed various matters via e-mail, including: developing a blog for Spectrum; placing Spectrum in the EBSCO database (approved); offering covers for reprints of Law Library Journal articles as is done for most law reviews (approved); creating a cumulative index for Law Library Journal (approved); asking whether awards should be given for articles that finish in the runner-up slot (no); providing corrected language for AALL web pages concerning awards for article of the year; deciding whether it is appropriate for the committee charge to indicate that no awards may be given (yes); assessed a new cover design for Law Library Journal, including an alternative layout of colors; and the committee’s role in providing input. The members of this year’s committee believed that LLJ and Spectrum would benefit from greater committee involvement in helping shape the publications’ future plans. Budget limitations have prevented mid-year meetings in Chicago as were held in the past. Electronic meetings may be an option to help provide feedback in the future.

The division of committee work into subcommittees included: LLJ Award – Joseph Custer, chair; Kumar Percy Jayasuriya; and Deborah Rusin; Spectrum Award – Therese Clarke Arado, chair; Merle Slyhoff; and Carol Billings; Web – Jason Sowards, chair; and Crata Castleberry.

Articles of the Year winners were: Sarah Hooke Lee, “Preserving Our Heritage: Protecting Law Library Core Missions through Updated Library Quality Assessment Standards,” 100 Law Libr. J. 9 (2008) and Carl Yirka, “Perspective: The Yirka Question and Yirka's Answer: What Should Law Libraries Stop Doing in Order to Address Higher Priority Initiatives?,” 12 AALL Spectrum 28 (July 2008).

A reception to honor the winners and all the authors was held at the AALL Annual Meeting in July 2008, thanks to the sponsorship of Wolters Kluwer Law & Business, who also will sponsor the event at the Washington Meeting.

John D. Edwards, chair

2008-09

Membership Development Committee 2008-2009 Following the merger of the Membership & Retention and Mentoring Committees in early 2008, the Membership Development Committee’s (MDC) primary duties are to contact members who had not renewed their memberships and to examine the Mentor Project and determine how to turn the Annual Meeting-focused matching program into a year ‘round endeavor. The MDC undertook the following activities during 2008-09:

- Contacting the remaining 10 chapters who hadn’t responded to the survey on member retention practices (results are lengthy and will be posted to the chapter website).

- Reviewed and streamlined the processes used to identify and contact members who had

not renewed their memberships as of Sept. 1. The process entails taking a list of 332 names, dividing them among the committee members, then attempting to contact the members by e-mail or phone to determine why they haven’t renewed.

o As in past years, we were unable to contact approximately half of the members on the list. Of those we did contact, the most common reasons for non-renewal were: left the profession/retired, no longer employed, and their employer wouldn’t pay their dues due to the economy.

o All in all, we spent 80 hours contacting over 200 members on the list, and in the end convinced fewer than 20 people to renew their memberships.

- Created an action plan for energizing the Mentor Project and transforming it to a year-

round model and explored ways to push mentoring out to the chapter arena in an attempt to reach more members of the profession. The action plan identified areas of the project to explore and next year’s committee will likely continue this work:

o Assessing SIS and chapter mentoring initiatives and matching procedures to create a model to share with other entities

o Creating a PR campaign to reach out to the SISs and chapters who want to start mentoring projects with this information

o Reviewing and revising the forms used in light of mentoring practices of other library organizations and professional groups.

- With the technical expertise of David Holt, the MDC has a new, but as of yet rather bare,

web page on AALLNET. As part of the action plan, the MDC hopes to accomplish the following to populate the page:

o Identify and summarize best practices for mentoring programs and post this information

o Gather links to mentoring materials from all AALL SISs, caucuses, committees, and chapters and organize them

o Gather and present materials on training mentors and assist protégés so they get the best guidance from the relationship

o Collect other chapter membership development information that we think members may find useful.

I would like to thank the members of my committee for their hard work (and patience) this year: Vice Chair Elizabeth “Dede” Bradsher, Amy Bruce, Karen Douglas, Edward Hart, Sue Johnson, Larry Meyer, and Mark Schwartz. My thanks also go to our Board Liaison Cornell Winston and our AALL Staff Liaison Hannah Phelps. Ellen Platt, Membership Development chair

Nominations Committee 2008-2009

Nominations Committee members Alison Alifano, Kathy Carlson, Karl Gruben, Frosty Owen, Joyce McCray Pearson, Donna Williams, Catherine Lemann (Executive Board liaison) and Kate Hagan (AALL staff) started the process to identify a slate of candidates for the Association's 2010 election in January 2009. In an effort to encourage members to seek Executive Board offices, the committee revised the Nominations Committee’s page (http://www.aallnet.org/committee/nomination/), particularly the FAQ section. http://www.aallnet.org/committee/nomination/faq-nominees.html. Much of the information that would be useful for potential candidates is available on the Board pages. At the request of the chair, the February issue of Spectrum contained an article and president’s letter describing how past/current presidents managed to balance the demands of association work and their regular jobs. We solicited possible nominees by sending a letter to the chair of Chapter Presidents and the SIS chair to distribute through their respective listservs to solicit possible nominees. A request also went out from AALL President James Duggan soliciting nominees. The names were compiled into a single list with relevant leadership activity, drawn from the AALLNET membership directory and Leadership Manual. The committee first established potential candidates from the list and then contacted them to see if they were willing and able to run for office. Selection of candidates and alternates was made during a series of teleconferences conducted in April and May. The chair contacted the selected individuals to confirm their ability to run for office. When the final slate was determined, each nominee confirmed his or her willingness to serve in an e-mail to the chair. The chair submitted the 2010 slate to AALL President James Duggan, AALL Vice President/President-Elect Catherine Lemann, and AALL Executive Director Kate Hagan in late May. The 2010 AALL slate consists of Darcy Kirk and Merle Slyhoff, vice president/president-elect candidates; Susan Lewis-Somers and Diana Jacque, treasurer candidates; and Coral Henning, Luci Curci–Gonzalez, Robert Hu, and Ron Wheeler, Executive Board member candidates. Sandy Marz, chair 2008-2009

Council of Newsletter Editors Committee 2008-2009 The Council of Newsletter Editors (CONE) consists of the current editors of 46 regional AALL chapter newsletters and AALL special interest section and caucus newsletters. The Council’s officers for 2008-09 were Matthew Braun and Regina Watson, co-chairs; Nancy Babb, webmaster; and Liz Glankler, listserv coordinator. The council’s primary function is to maintain a page on the AALL website that includes up-to-date links to (1) tutorials designed to aid editors in the development and preparation of their newsletters, (2) details on programs that have been or will be sponsored by the council, and (3) websites and e-mail addresses corresponding to the publications of council members. The council spent the 2008-09 year communicating primarily through its listserv, with members sharing stories and suggestions about particular issues concerning their publications. Among the topics discussed were the use of copyrighted photographs in newsletters, the proper attribution technique for previously published material, and the scope of errata sections in newsletters (that account for errors or confusion in previous issues of newsletters). The council held a roundtable at the 2009 AALL Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C., with breakout groups discussing matters such as the current role of newsletters in the law library environment, the recruitment of columnists and other periodic contributors to these newsletters, the management of photographs in a newsletter, and technology tips for producing and disseminating such publications. In 2009-10, the council hopes to establish a robust mentoring program, whereby newer and experienced newsletter editors will be matched based upon publication type and focus. Such a program will ideally increase member participation within the council and increase the cohesiveness of the organization. Additionally, the council will likely submit a proposal for an educational program or workshop at the 2010 AALL Annual Meeting in Denver, Colorado, hoping to further its visibility within AALL as a whole and capitalize on the success of the council’s sponsored program on newsletters, blogs, and email alerts at the 2007 Annual Meeting in New Orleans and its program on using newsletters to market law libraries at the 2008 Annual Meeting in Portland.

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Placement Committee 2008-2009

The officers of the Placement Committee in 2008-09 were Linda J. Davis, chair, and Gloria Jean Glasbrenner, vice chair. This past year the committee was very busy with an audit of its website, reviewing information and links to verify their accuracy, currency, and value. It investigated alternative names for the committee as it is felt that the current name does not accurately reflect the committee’s responsibilities. Some suggestions were made and the incoming committee will continue with this item. At the request of numerous members that AALL provide the ability for members to be able to post resumes through AALLNET, the committee investigated several job listing websites and submitted a recommendation to the Board liaison. With the unveiling of the new Career Center website, the committee will be discussing what its relationship/contributions will be to the new Career Center. They will, additionally, discuss if the new website will impact how the Placement Office will operate at future conferences. The 2009-10 committee officers will be Gloria Jean Glasbrenner, chair, and Charlene Cain, vice chair.

Public Relations Committee 2008-2009

First, the P.R. Committee had a large presence at the 2008 Annual Meeting. Not only did we participate in the CONELL Marketplace, we also had a very large display set up in the Exhibits area showcasing the winners of the "Day in the Life" photo contest and the "Excellence in Marketing" awards. We also facilitated an open roundtable discussion during the Annual Meeting, extending a special invitation to those who submitted entries to either contest. The "giveaway" was a post-it note pad with AALL’s logo on it. Throughout the year, we embraced the strategic goal of education by writing a total of nine articles for AALL Spectrum. Subjects ranged from a survey of public relations efforts in smaller law libraries to a book review with suggestions on personal networking. This was a great opportunity for several of our members who had never before been published in AALL Spectrum to see their ideas in print. During the fall, we discussed whether to have the "Day in the Life"(DITL) contest for 2009. Usually it is held every two years, but feedback from previous years said this is something "fun," and many members look forward to the contest each year. Thus, we decided to continue the photo contest. Nearly 30 members from 23 different law libraries across the country submitted 82 photos to the contest. In addition to mounting the winning photos on AALLNET.org, we also asked the photographers to submit a short paragraph about what inspired them to take the photo. Portions of those quotes were added to the photo site. Photo winners will be displayed in the P.R. Exhibit at the 2009 AALL Annual Meeting. A list of winners is attached. With the Board’s expressed desire to stop depending so much on vendors, we worked with AALL HQ to create and update a new “Excellence in Marketing” (EIM) award brochure. We eliminated references to vendors and vendor sponsorship while providing a new look for the brochure. A list of winners of the awards is attached. However, judging from the lowered number of submissions for both the DITL contest and the EIM awards, the P.R. Committee recommends alternating these contests every year instead of trying to have both of them every year. Hopefully, this alteration will lead to an increase in the quantity and quality of entries. Additionally, the chair of the P.R. Committee signed up to blog on the AALL Spectrum blog as a way to further discuss and/or disseminate public relations information or ideas. The committee also discussed putting up a wiki somewhere to collect marketing ideas and initiatives, but decided to postpone that until AALLNET has completed its migration. A p.r. wiki is an excellent project for the 2009-2010 year. The committee requested funding from the Executive Board to purchase “give-aways” for the 2009 Annual Meeting as a way to attract members to our exhibit area and table at CONELL. Due

to the downturn in the economy, this request was understandably denied. Therefore, the chair and vice-chair expended personal funds to purchase bookmarks and a bookmark display from the ALA store. These bookmarks, along with the remainder of the post-its from last year, will be our “give-aways” for our table at CONELL and at the P.R. Exhibit. Finally, the decision by the Executive Board to add the position of vice-chair to the committee was an excellent one. The vice-chair has worked closely with the chair in all P.R. matters and, as a result, is very well prepared to carry on the work of the P.R. Committee in the 2009-2010 year. Hopefully this practice will continue in future years. The officers of the Public Relations Committee during 2008-09 were Amy Hale-Janeke, chair; Cindy Spohr, vice chair, chair-elect; Karen B. Brunner, Bret N. Christensen, Eugenia A. Minor, Tawnya K. Plumb, Carol J. Schmitt, Duane A. Strojny, and Catherine S. Whitney, members-at-large. Catherine Lemann served as the Board liasion and both Hillary Baker and Julia O’Donnell served as staff liaisons. Winners of the DITL Contest: Overall Best Photo 1. Absorbing the Law, by Vicenç Feliú 2. A Big Blue World, from Sharon Bradley, photo by Bob Brussack 3. Closing Time, by Brian Barnes Category 1: Librarians as Information Evaluators and Managers 1. Throwing Green, by David Hanson 2. Information Manager, by Robert Linz 3. The Maze, by Craig Ford Category 2: Librarians as Expert Researchers 1. Blended Reference, by Jessica Van Buren 2. Tracing 2 centuries worth of legislative history, by Brian Barnes 3. On the Russian Steppes, by Sharon Bradley Category 3: Librarians as Teachers and Trainers 1. A Big Blue World, from Sharon Bradley, photo by Bob Brussack 2. Musing on Clio - Rare Books Lecture 2009, by Amanda Runyon 3. On the Outside Looking In, from Carol Watson, photo by Leslie Grove 3. This is the Information You Need, from Ruth J. Hill, photo by Claudette Smith-Brown Category 4: Librarians as Trailblazers in New Technology 1. Try this instead, by Coral Henning 2. Self Portrait, by Barbara Scanlon 3. Old Dawgs and New Tricks, by Sharon Bradley Category 5: The Artistry of Librarianship 1. Absorbing the Law, by Vicenç Feliú

2. Closing Time, by Brian Barnes 3. Simple Marketing, by Jessica Van Buren Category 6: Most Humorous 1. Cask of Amontillado (with apologies to Edgar Allen Poe), by Sharon Bradley 2. Reference Assistance or Bust, by George Taoultsides 3. Information Overload, by Amanda Runyon Winners of the EIM contest: Best Brochure- University of Minnesota Law Library Best Campaign - Law Library Association of Wisconsin Best Use of Technology - Arizona State Univ. Ross Blakely Law Library Best PR Toolkit - Sacramento County Public Law Library Best Newsletter - no award By Amy Hale-Janeke, chair

Recruitment to Law Librarianship Committee 2008-2009

The Recruitment to Law Librarianship Committee (RLLC) has had a relatively quiet year. The approval of initiatives of the Developing Law Libraries for the Future Special Committee (DLLF) will create several new opportunities for Recruitment Committee work in 2009-2010. The committee acts as a "first contact" for individuals interested in information about a career in law librarianship. As of June 10, 2009, there have been 29 requests for information submitted to the committee, most via the web form. All have been answered, with many contacts followed up with additional discussion and referral to websites or local librarians or chapters to contact. Contacts have ranged from undergraduates considering future options to paraprofessionals seeking additional responsibilities, and generalist librarians and attorneys looking for new career options. The committee participated in the AALLNET page survey at the request of the AALLNET Committee. Diane Murley, the Recruitment Committee's webmaster, completed the survey. Committee members Mary Rumsey and Cheryl Niemeier also completed a comparison of materials available on the existing committee website versus those available on the new lawlibrarycareers.org site. The committee will take over maintenance and updating of the new website, with assistance of Headquarters staff, when it is turned over by the DLLF. A dialogue was opened with Cindy Torres Essell, the liaison to AALL from the National Association of Law Placement (NALP). The possibility of future work together on recruitment and retention needs to be further explored. Sarah Mauldin acted as an ex officio member of the Developing Law Libraries for the Future Special Committee. In addition to maintenance of the new lawlibrarycareers.org site, RLLC hopes to be involved in the pilot Recruitment Ambassadors program. The committee is well positioned to assist with implementation of the new program. Diane Murley kindly agreed to continue to serve as webmaster of the committee although her committee term ended in July 2008. She has since returned to the practice of law and has resigned from the webmaster position. Current committee member Mary Rumsey and incoming committee member Whitney Curtis have agreed to serve as co-webmasters in the future. Thanks are due Diane Murley for all of her excellent work over the years as webmaster. The committee will be represented at the American Library Association Spectrum Scholars Professional Options Fair at the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago in early July by members of the Chicago Association of Law Libraries. The fair provides a forum for reaching library students of diverse backgrounds who may have never considered law librarianship as a career. The committee has acted as a point of contact, in concert with Julia O'Donnell at AALL Headquarters, to distribute the new Careers in Law Librarianship brochure. The brochure is currently being updated to reflect AALL's new address. Julia O'Donnell has also found a new printing company that will be able to provide the brochure at a lower cost than was previously available.

Current committee member Trina Robinson and incoming Chair Darcy Kirk will represent RLLC at the CONELL Marketplace. The committee will also have a presence in the Activities Area of the Annual Meeting Exhibit Hall. Committee members will staff the table during no-conflict times and may be available during other Exhibit Hall hours. The chair wishes to thank all members of the 2008-2009 committee. Members include Vice-Chair Anna Teller, Darcy Kirk, Cheryl Niemeier, Trina Robinson, Mary Rumsey, and Hollie White. Special thanks go to Board Liaison Cornell Winston for keeping work on track. Committee Vice-Chair Anna Teller needed to step down for next year. Committee member Darcy Kirk has agreed to act in her place and will become chair in July at the Annual Meeting. Respectfully Submitted, Sarah Mauldin Chair, Recruitment to Law Librarianship Committee, 2008-2009

Research and Publications Committee 2008-2009 In July 2008, the Research Committee and Publications Committees merged to form the Research and Publications Committee. The newly-merged committee took over the responsibilities of the previous committees. Primary among the Research and Publication Committee’s responsibilities is its administration of two research grant programs: AALL/Wolters Kluwer Law & Business Grant Program and AALL Research Fund: An Endowment Established by LexisNexis®. To this end, the committee informs AALL members of the availability of the grants and grant-cycle deadlines, evaluates grant applications, selects grant recipients, determines award amounts, ensures that grant recipients comply with grant requirements, approves reports, and so on. In 2008-2009, the committee received and reviewed seven applications for research grants. In the fall of 2008, the committee selected two grants for funding through the AALL/Wolters Kluwer Law & Business Grant Program: Scott Frey was awarded $1,500 for his project, “A Search Engine for Law-Related Public Domain Electronic Books,” and John Doyle was awarded $3,804 for his project, “Law Review Submissions.” In the spring of 2009, the committee selected one grant for funding through the AALL Research Fund: An Endowment Established by LexisNexis®. Georgia Briscoe was awarded $1,220 for her project, “Is Quality Control in Academic Law Library Online Catalogs Decreasing?” The committee in 2008-2009 also approved final reports and/or final products from the following previously-awarded research grants: Wendy Scott and Christine Demetros’s project, “Merging Reference & Circulation Services: The Savior or Undoing of Reference in Academic Law Libraries,” and Jill Duffy and Elizabeth Lambert’s project, “Dissents from the Bench: A Compilation of Oral Dissents Issued by the U.S. Supreme Court Justices.” The committee thanks everyone who participated in the research grant competition and those whose generous support made the grants possible. The committee fulfills a number of other AALL publication-related charges, including reviewing proposals for additions to the AALL Publication Series, published by William S. Hein & Co., Inc. Last year, the committee received one proposal for the series. The committee chair and the AALL director of publications conducted an initial review of the proposal for consistency with the AALL Publications Statement of Purpose, financial soundness, and general feasibility. Unfortunately, the proposal did not meet the threshold requirements for the series and was therefore not forwarded to the committee for a full review.

As this was the first year of the merged committee, there were numerous administrative tasks necessary to coordinate the functions of the Research and Publications Committees. None was more important or time-consuming than the creation of a website for the new committee. Nancy Babb graciously volunteered to act as the committee webmaster and contributed enormously to the launch of the new website. The committee would like to express its sincere appreciation to Ms. Babb.

The members of the 2008-2009 AALL Research and Publications Committee are: Annmarie Zell, chair; Pamela Melton, vice chair; Daniel R. Campbell; Jacqueline Cantwell; Annemarie Donovan; Debora Person; Adeen Postar; Margaret A. Schilt; Paula Seeger; Kama Sue Siegel; Maryruth Storer; and Sharon Wang.

Scholarships Committee 2008-2009 The Scholarships Committee once again awarded scholarships to many promising applicants, from a large pool of well-qualified candidates. The committee awarded 15 scholarships totaling $31,974.00. The breakdown is as follows:

From the LexisNexis John R. Johnson Memorial Scholarship Endowment, two scholarships for non-law school graduates seeking a library degree were awarded to Marianne Sterna and Joanne Gialis; one scholarship for a law school graduate seeking a library degree was awarded to Donna Bowman; and one scholarship for a dual-degree law and library school student was awarded to Ellen Qualey.

From the George A. Strait Minority Scholarship Endowment, three scholarships were awarded to Maria Femenia, Tiffany Page, and Sarah Nelson.

From the AALL Scholarships, six scholarships for law school graduates seek a library degree were awarded to Errol Adams, Ian Bourgoine, Tina Brooks, Mindy Rush Chipman, Cindy Guyer, and Thomas Sneed; and one scholarship for non-law graduates seeking a library degree was awarded to Phanelson Braxton.

The James F. Connolly Memorial Scholarship for a law school graduate seeking a library degree was awarded to Caitlin Connelly Smith.

The Connolly Memorial Scholarship was a non-renewing fund, and the committee awarded the balance of the fund this year, so the fund will be closed out after this year. Funds for the other scholarships were made available due to the generous support of AALL, LexisNexis, Thomson Reuters, and the many donations of individual members of AALL. This was the first year that the Scholarships Committee had a “vice-chair.” That position was ably filled by Nancy Strohmeyer, who will fill the position of chair for the 2009-10 year. I would like to thank Nancy and our other committee members, Ismael Gullon, Kirstin Nelson, Joanna Bizub, Rick Goheen, and Kathy Sasala, who served as invaluable resources throughout the year. Jim Gernert, chair 2008-09

Washington Affairs Office Review Special Committee 2008-2009

In February 2008, President Ann Fessenden created a special committee to assess the evolution of the AALL Washington Affairs Office (WAO) and its role as the center of the Association’s government relations activities. The WAORSC was also charged to make recommendations on some specific issues regarding the future direction and continuity of the WAO and its activities. Members of the committee were Sarah Holterhoff (chair), Timothy Coggins, Mary Lou Hess, Keith Ann Stiverson, Maryruth Storer, Kay Todd, and Gail Warren. Ann Fessenden served as Board liaison and Kate Hagan as staff liaison. Information-gathering was the first stage of the committee’s work. Committee members researched the history of the WAO, back to its creation in the late 1980s. They solicited opinions from AALL members by several methods: conducting an online survey of stakeholders, creating a short-term “Beyond the Beltway” blog to collect comments from the general AALL membership, and holding focus groups with a cross-section of AALL members at the Annual Meeting. The WAORSC requested and received an assessment of current operations of the WAO from Acting Washington Affairs Representative Mary Alice Baish. For comparative purposes, information about the government affairs activities of 24 other professional organizations was compiled by a committee member. In spring and summer 2008, the WAORSC met several times by conference call and held two in-person meetings—at the Annual Meeting in Portland, OR, and in August 2008 in Chicago. The committee submitted a Preliminary Report for the July 2008 meeting of the Executive Board, an Interim Report for the fall 2008 meeting, and a Final Report for the spring 2009 meeting. Based on recommendations made by the WAORSC in its Interim Report, the Board approved three motions in October 2008. The first established the staff position of director of the WAO, with the person in that position reporting to the AALL executive director. The former Washington affairs representative position was to be officially discontinued when the director position was filled. The second motion changed the name of the WAO to the AALL Government Relations Office (GRO), thereby changing the new director position to “director of the AALL Government Relations Office.” The third motion extended the term of the WAORSC (scheduled to end in Dec. 2008) to April 30, 2009, so that committee members would have time to complete their work. Shortly after the Board’s actions described above, AALL Executive Director Kate Hagan offered the new position of GRO director to Mary Alice Baish, who accepted the offer. The committee’s final six months were spent considering additional aspects of its charge as well as several other issues that had arisen in the course of its work. These matters included the tax implications of expenses related to lobbying, a possible relocation for the GRO, future staffing and succession planning for the GRO, and ways to enhance communication with AALL members about government relations activities and to increase their participation in them. Those matters are addressed in the committee’s Final Report. At its spring 2009 meeting, the Executive Board followed recommendations of the WAORSC by authorizing clarification of the charges and membership requirements for AALL’s Copyright and Government Relations Committees. Also approved were the posting on AALLNET and provision for future updating of three documents created by the WAORSC in the course of its work. It is anticipated that these

documents will have long-term value for the Association. They are: Highlights of the History of the AALL Government Relations Office (formerly the Washington Affairs Office); Frequently Asked Questions about the AALL Government Relations Office (GRO) in Washington, D.C.; and the Frequently Used Acronyms and Abbreviations list. Sarah Holterhoff, chair 2008-09